The present invention relates in general to the design and construction of a fluid filter that includes various design choices and options that help to reduce the overall cost of the fluid filter. These choices and design options include the design and redesign of component parts and features as well as the overall fabrication method that is used to create the fluid filter.
One consideration in the design of a fluid filter is cost control. Due to the high market volume for fuel filters and lube filters, for example, even relatively small cost cutting measures can add up to substantial savings for larger customers, such as fleet operators. If design and redesign modifications can be made to the typical or traditional fluid filter resulting in the elimination of one or more component parts, a cost savings is realized from the standpoint of eliminating a component part and its associated cost as well as eliminating one or more assembly steps relating to that component part. When there are cost savings from improvements in the fabrication and assembly steps that must be performed to create the fluid filter, these can be significant in terms of labor dollars.
One consideration in the design and/or redesign of fluid filter components is whether the fluid filter structure can be made non-metallic or predominantly non-metallic. A fluid filter design that is predominantly non-metallic, preferably all plastic, is considered “disposable” since it can be incinerated for disposal or can be recycled, depending on the selected materials. By providing a construction that is incineratable, the structural mass of the filter can be reduced to low volume ash and this limits what will be added to landfills. The other option for “disposal” is to recycle the plastics used in the construction of the fluid filter. Presently, when there is a fluid filter construction that is substantially all plastic, it is normally described as having an “environmentally friendly, green design”.
Recognizing that there is value in a predominantly all-plastic fluid filter construction and that there is value in a reduction in the number of component parts comprising the fluid filter, the present invention is directed to these two objectives. A number of design improvements are offered by the present invention, as described herein, and each improvement has independent value such that it can most likely be incorporated independently of any other improvements. Nevertheless, a number of the present invention improvements can be incorporated together into the redesigned fluid filter due to their design compatibility. The fluid filter improvements according to the present invention are considered to be novel and unobvious.